Kaii's Tale
by Temperance Isaack
Summary: Kaii's never met the avatar, even though they lived in the same temple. Ate in the same hall. But the avatar's gone missing, and now there are threats of an attack by the firenation!


I was just a little girl…ten years old, and training to become a scribe. I was never much of a bender. When it came to physical activity I was…lacking. Well, more frankly, I was downright clumsy. Have you ever heard of such a thing as a clumsy airbender? But there I was.

That day, all those years ago, I remember so well. I remember how it began like any other day in this young monk's life. I'd finished my chores in the sanctuary and was on my way to see Tara, my "sister". She was five years older than me, and a gifted bender. We were raised by the same nun, Iangin. She was younger than many of the other nuns, and certainly the most beautiful of any, with peircing silver eyes and long black hair. As a child, I had been mesmerized by her graceful movements and sky blue tattoos. She was the only mother we'd ever known, and we loved her.

My sister had been practicing that morning. The month before, we'd been told that the avatar had gone missing. That made the elders very nervous. I'd never met him; boys and girls were raised and lived on opposite sides of the temple, and I had never spoken to a boy in my life. Rumors that there would be an attack on our peaceful nation flourished like flying squirrel-lemurs. I thought these were idiotic allegations, but nonetheless, precautions were taken.

I leaned against my staff and watched her train with eager eyes. She was graceful, like Iangin, and I felt my heart swell with childish envy. The nuns and monks told me that envy was an unnecessary evil, and to rid myself of it. I believed them, but that was one of those tasks too large for a ten-year-old mind.

"Hey, Kaii," she said, balancing on her staff with one foot, "check this out!" I watched, amazed, my eyes growing with childlike wonder to the size of coconuts.

WUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!

"What was that?" asked Tara, dropping down from her staff with ease and landing without a sound. I shrug, and motion her to follow me to the ledge, overlooking the bay. We didn't know it, but the sound was a siren signaling a raid.

There they were. An iron wall of steamships lined two by two and blocking the rising sun on the eastern horizon. I felt the breath leave my lungs as Tara's hand clutched mine.

It took me a moment to realize we were running. My legs seemed to moved on their own accord. Once I realized this, though, my feet became entangled upon themselves and the floor greeted my face with painful speed, but I had no time for pain. I pushed myself to my feet with an airblast and continued running.

Iangin met us, and hugged us to her body. "Come, girls, we must evacuate! Hurry now!" she took both of our hands in her own and pulled us away from the temple.

"Where are we going?" asked Tara, rushing to keep up with Iangin's long strides. Iangin did not answer.

We were approaching the mountain. An airbender would be the only one who could make it over those mountains. We would be safe there, at least for a while.

Iangin stopped. She smiled, but I saw her lips tremble. She hugged us tightly again. "I will see you both later. I love you very much—"

"NO!" I shouted, floored by such a statement. "You can't leave us! Iangin, come with us, please!"

The tall nun tried to continue smiling, but sad tears trickled down her face and left a salty trail on her cheek. "I must protect you, and the others. If they find you, they will kill you, they will not hesitate. You must understand, Kaii."

I did. But I didn't want to. Understanding meant growing up, and I was not ready to grow up so soon. I fought to bring words to my lips, but before I could think, Tara spoke. "I will stay, too. I'm 15, and a master. I will stay and fight." Her words shook as they fell from her mouth, but she did not show fear in her eyes. Iangin nodded, motherly concern and fatherly pride etched into her face and aging her a thousand years before my eyes.

We air nomads are a peaceful people, and the word fight stung like thousands of scorpion bees had climbed into my ears.

"I WILL FIGHT, TOO!" I said, pushing Iangin's hand. I lifted my face defiantly and hooded my eyes, almost daring her to deny me. The nun shushed me.

"You're too small, my love. You will be trampled. Go with Hingju and the other children. When this is all over, I'll find you. I promise. Our family will not be broken." She wiped my face, and I realized I was crying. She was the only mother I'd ever had, and only then did I realize this. She kissed my cheek and pushed me away. I did not turn around, despite my heart's protest against my brain, my brain prevailed and I continued toward the mountain, no better than an orphan.

That was the last time I ever saw them. The power of Iangin's promise hadn't been enough to spare their lives, but it took me many years to completely admit this to myself.

Through tearful, ten-year-old eyes, I found Hingju, a nun slightly older than my Iangin, and we walked, her big hand encapsulating mine. She led us children deep into the mountain. We lived in caves and ate whatever we could find, asking the spirit of whatever poor bird or creature that became our dinner. Eventually, though, even Hingju stopped praying for forgiveness.

Many of the smaller children perished. We had so many funerals, primitive graves dug along the soft soil paths. Not even funerals, just a few words said over the bodies as they were lowered into their graves.

I vowed to myself and to Iangin that if she and Tara were alive and made it to the mountain, I would be alive to greet them.

I rededicated myself to my studies, learning form and pose as well as I could from the three remaining masters: Hingju, Monto, a sixteen year old monk, and Rona, a twenty three year old scribe. Though we slept in the day and moved in the night, at 16 became a fully-fledged airbender, or as close to one as I could ever be. There was no means for ceremony, no spirit for it in our dank and rotten caves. My head was shaved with shells sharpened on rocks and I was branded. Hingju used a superheated sewing needle in place of sky blue ink to singe my arrow into my skin. Despite the incredible pain, I kept silent, displaying my reserve and inner peace. My scars marked me as a survivor.

For 16 years, we lived in those mountains, hiding and scavenging for survival became second nature. We made do with what we had, bathing in small streams that we came across. I had grown out of my child's robes and wore the dress of a dead girl who needed it no more. The deeper we climbed into the mountain's side the colder it became. One morning I woke to find that Hingju had frozen to death. We had come into the mountains with seventy, and of us, twenty remained. We had grown used to death, and did not mourn Hingju. She was buried within the hour, her body already cold and stiff.

A few months later, Fire nation scouts who had been sent into the mountain after us all those years ago finally found us. How we managed to evade them for so long is beyond me.

Four surrounded me on either side, strong men twice my emaciated and under grown size, and tried to singe my body with flames. I outwitted them, jumping higher than their fire could reach. My staff, the only piece of my old life, found one of their heads. My foot found another's face, and my airblast took the rest and threw them over the side of the mountain, but for every one I knocked over, another ten took his place. I fought with every bit of strength and will in my body, but in the end I was overpowered.

As I fell, I watched my brothers and sisters, the twenty who'd survived of the children Hingju lead into the mountain, fall as well. I heard their screams and cries of agony as the flames licked their bodies and they cried no more. As I became one with the flames, I heard Iangin's promise once more.

_When this is all over, I'll find you. I promise. Our family will not be broken._ I looked up, past the armored figures that stood over me, and saw them: Iangin, Tara, Hingju, and all the others, smiling and welcoming me. I smiled back, and all pain ceased forever.

I think my body is still in the mountains, somewhere, my burned black skull smiling and waiting for someone, anyone, to find it and give it a proper burial, as I am sure the soldiers did not. Until then, I am just a clumsy little ten year old airbender, training to become a scribe and watching my older sister balancing on her staff with one foot. I am Kaii, and this is my story.


End file.
